Perfectly Crazy
by Shyrstyne
Summary: When Riku gained the power to control the Heartless, he gained the power to talk to them as well. That may not mean much to most Heartless, but when one small shadow adopts itself as your pet...


Entirely pointless pseudo what-if story that I though of on the way home from school. To be taken with a grain of salt and a good deal of suspended disbelief. The only thing here even resembling anything of mine own is Icarus… Who could really be anyone you wanted it to. Personally however, I like Guardian Demon. I think he's got potential.

Not the best of my writing repertoire, it seems to me. Sadly, it also seems I can't be bothered to revise it. Oh Well.

Please don't take this seriously. Writing things like this is a lot like doodling in binder margins. Pointless. Not very original. But necessary, sometimes decent and therapeutic to a point.

**Perfectly Crazy**

When Riku had first gained control of the Heartless, he'd assumed he was hearing things.

He hadn't been of course, but his first reaction was to dismiss the vague undertones as an overactive imagination. In the back of his head, he knew it was the Heartless, whispering to him incessantly, wanting, and wishing, with their modicum of intelligence. After a while, he even acknowledged it, finding they were easier to control when he listened to them.

It was all perfectly crazy, of course, but his own needs overtook any and all warnings that blared at him for taking the darkness, and utilizing it. He knew it wasn't safe. He didn't care.

Despite all this, he soon found that the Heartless, although animal like in appearance and action, possessed the barest hint of intelligence. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to get attached to, and even name a few of them.

The first was Icarus.

Most Heartless didn't have names in the usual sense of the word, and in the short time he had been able to interact freely with them, the only one he knew was Lloyd, who came off as being happy and slightly ADD, even in the state he was. Regardless, most Heartless didn't have names, and Riku spent his first hour of acquaintance with Icarus deciding on what to call the Heartless. Icarus had been the only name it had liked.

In short order, the Heartless became something of a pet. Icarus was always hanging around, though most of that was spent in that curious 'overlap dimension' that all Heartless resided in. Apparently it was universal, and Riku chose not to question, both for the complexity of it, and the fact that it was extremely difficult trying to get information out of a being that could only barely be classified as sentient. Sometimes not even then.

Riku lost track of everything after Ansem took control, so his pet Heartless never even occurred to him until long after he and King Mickey had been locked beyond the Door to Light. Something of his power to communicate with the Heartless must have remained, because when he once woke to a Shadow sitting on his chest (and conspicuously doing nothing), he managed to convince it to hide itself before King Mickey returned –perhaps some subconscious thought recognized it, but he doubted it. To the end of his days, he was never entirely sure what prompted that particular bout of insanity, but it was done and Icarus (who he learned it was not long after) continued to do nothing but follow silently.

The Heartless, however little of intellect it might have, was still only barely classified as so, and thus Riku had his work cut out for him as he tried to keep his pet from being skewered by someone's Keyblade, while still trying to satisfy it's need for attention. It's resemblance to pet in that way was startling. Eventually he made it clear that, while his pet could follow, it couldn't come out unless Riku told it that it was safe. Riku's affection for the creature of a race out to destroy entire worlds was startling, and perhaps even scared him a little. Regardless, he continued to make sure the Shadow was safe.

When he finally became Ansem once again, more problems arose. Not only did he have to deal with the shame of becoming his enemy, but also yet another Heartless. A muscle bound brute that grudgingly informed him that it had only come because it had thought the other Ansem had called him. Apparently Riku wasn't the only person with a fondness for certain things, though he wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing or not. Guardian Demon (it's name, he was also informed), took great pains to be of as little use as possible. On top of trying not to be around and not doing what it was told, Riku also found that it absolutely despised Icarus. Riku eventually gave up and let the Guardian Demon to its peace, preferring a semi-loyal shadow to a powerful but untrustworthy guardian.

When the end finally came, and he lost the last and final of his dark powers he was surprised to notice the conspicuous absence of that half-whisper that he had grown so used to. He hadn't noticed right away, like getting on an old bike you haven't ridden in a while, but once he found his other powers were gone, it was near painfully apparent.

There hadn't been time for it though. Xemnas awaited them, and both he and Sora were more than willing to oblige. He eventually dismissed his pet as probably being much happier wherever he -or perhaps even she- resided. The worlds had been restored, and people reappeared. He could only assume that Icarus had been returned to its former body and world, content wherever that may be.

So Riku lay his head back against the smooth bark of the Paopu tree, finally content in his own home of Destiny Islands, and prepared to take a nap.


End file.
